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by Cartoonygirl



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: ALSO I HAD THIS IDEA??????, Gen, I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS AFTER THE FINALE AND I NEED TO VENt, also you will have to pry music camp Max away from my cold dead hands, once again I tried and fail to write something serious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-20 00:38:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11909577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cartoonygirl/pseuds/Cartoonygirl
Summary: Max, David, and Gwen return to camp after the pizza parlor to find that a lot has happened since they left. Soon, the camp becomes much emptier than they would like. Now, they need to find a way to stop the camp from shutting down for good.





	1. An Angry Mob of Parents (and a grandma, and an uncle)

Max wasn't sure what he was expecting when he got back to camp, but this wasn't it. The place was a chaotic mess of screaming parents and anxious campers.

"You!" Harrison's mother screamed, pointing at David. "What kind of operation are you running?" 

"I-"

"Our children-"

"Excuse me, but-"

"And I just have to say-!"

"HEY!" Gwen interjected, stepping between the furious mother and the confused David. "What the hell is going on here?"

"I'll tell you what's going on," Agent Miller growled. "This camp is a scam! It's a...  _camp camp_." The other parents mumbled in angry agreement.

"Now, wait a second. That's not a fair accusation. We warned the parents in the brochures," David defended. 

"It doesn't matter. We're taking our children home _now_." Nerris's mom said. The other parents mumbled in louder, angrier agreement.

"But-" However, the parents had already gathered their children. Most were heading to their tents to take their belongings.

"Mom! Please, please,  _please_ , let me stay here. Please?" Nikki begged, turning to her mother.

"If you really want to, you can," Nikki's mom replied.

"THANKS, MOM!" Nikki said, hugging her mom.

"Yeah, dad, can I stay?" Neil asked his parent.

"I suppose," Neil's dad said.

"Thanks, dad."

Max was relieved that he'd at least get to see some of his friends for the rest of the summer. But he was sad to see the other campers go. Even Preston's grandma and Space Kid's uncle were taking them back home.

Within a few hours, everybody was gone. Nikki and Neil had filled Max, Gwen, and David in on what they missed.

"Well, this fucking sucks," Max announced, speaking for everybody.

"I can't believe Mr. Campbell got arrested," David said quietly. 

"He deserved it, honestly," Max replied. Gwen, Nikki, and Neil nodded.

"No, guys, you don't understand," David turned to the campers and his co-counselor. "Without Mr. Campbell, we can't fund the camp."

"What does that mean?" Neil asked anxiously.

"It means we have to shut down the camp," David whispered.


	2. Max's Plan

"We have to what?" Max asked, for the first time showing emotion towards the camp.

"Unless we get the money to fund the camp, we have to shut it down," David explained. "I'm sorry, guys." Everybody was silent for a moment before Max spoke up again.

"Then there's only one thing left to do," He said. "We have to raise the money."

"Max, that's crazy," Neil argued.

"I have to agree with Neil on this, Max," Nikki said.

"Where would we even get the money?" Gwen asked.

"I happen to know a few someones who owe me," Max said, smirking.

\----

"Absolutely not!" Sasha yelled. "We don't owe you anything!"

"Oh really?" Max asked. "Because you said, and I quote, "I guess because we ruined this whole matchmaking thing, we'll help you out when you need it, or whatever." Your words, not mine." Max said smugly.

"Fine," Sasha relented. "What do you want?"

"Half your cookie sales."

"What?" The flower scouts exclaimed.

"That's  _our_ money. We made it fair and square," Tabii said.

"Yeah, like, back off!" Erin shouted.

"Fine. One third," Max bargained.

"One  _fourth_." Sasha held out her hand for Max to shake. Max debated for a second. This might be their best chance, and it seemed like Sasha's final offer. He made his decision. 

"Deal." They shook on it, and the flower scouts handed over $750.

"Now go back to your hella gross camp."

"With pleasure."

\----

Max threw the money onto the mess hall table where Gwen was sitting with a checkbook, a calculator, and the camp's budget and bank account papers in front of her.

"Look. $750. I just saved the camp," Max said. "You're welcome."

"Max, it costs about $4,000 to keep this place running," Gwen told him.

"WHAT?" Max yelled. "How are we supposed to raise $4,000 dollars?"

"You don't have to worry about anything," Gwen said. "Leave this to the adults, okay? We can handle it." The sounds of David's sobbing drifted into the mess hall. "Well,  _I_ can handle it. And David can too, once he stops crying."

"No!" Max exclaimed. "I've been going here for four years now. I want to save this fucking hellhole as much as you guys do."

"And so do we!" Exclaimed Nikki, who was spying from outside the window with Neil. Gwen sighed. There was no way to convince these kids that they just couldn't keep the camp open. They would do it or die trying.

"Alright," Gwen relented. "You can help. But... I want you to know that this might not work out, okay?" The campers nodded. "Then one of you go get David. I have a plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could not find out how much summer camps cost to run so I guessed????? Sorry


	3. Gwen's Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current Funds: $750/$4,000  
> Money Needed: $3, 250

Gwen's brilliant plan was only brilliant to her. And to David, who was just desperate to save the camp. But the campers hated it.

"I'm not doing that. No fucking way," Max said.

"You said you wanted to help, this is how," Gwen told him. "It'll be fine, I promise."

"I'll do it! It sounds fun!" Nikki exclaimed. Gwen gave Max and Neil a why-can't-you-be-more-like-Nikki look.

"Come on, it won't be that bad," David added. He was trying desperately to stay positive, but at this point, he had abandoned it for a more realistic outlook.

"Fine," Neil sighed.

"Max?" Gwen turned to the boy. Max rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I'll do it." Gwen breathed a sigh of relief.

"TO THE CAMPMOBILE!" Nikki shouted, running out of the mess hall. The other campers and counselors followed. 

\----

"Lemonade. Get your lemonade here." Max sat with David at the lemonade stand they'd set up in front of the hardware store. The stand was a plastic table and a sign that said "buy lemonade to support your local camp!" It was $1 per cup.

So far, they'd had three customers in as many hours.

"Max, can you just lighten up a little bit?" David asked.

"BUY SOME FUCKING LEMONADE!" Max yelled. He managed to scare a nearby rabbit, but didn't attract any customers. It was already a small town, and nobody wanting lemonade on that particular day didn't help.

"Language," David muttered. Another ten minutes passed, and they still had no customers.

"This is useless," Max groaned. "Nobody wants lemonade. We have to sell something people  _want_. Like the flower scouts."

"What did the flower scouts sell that people wanted?"

"Uh... cookies?" Max hoped that he wouldn't have to tell David the real new ingredient in the cookies.

"Oh, right." Another unsuccessful fifteen minutes passed. At that point, Gwen, Nikki, and Neil had arrived from the next town over, where they'd also been selling lemonade. 

"So how much did you guys make?" Max asked.

"97," Nikki said proudly.

"What? How the fuck did you manage that?"

"It was easy. How much did you make?" Neil questioned.

"Just $3," David sighed.

"So that's... $100 in all?" Gwen did the math in her head. "That's not enough."

"No shit, Sherlock," Max said. Everybody began taking the lemonade stand down, and shoving it back into the campmobile.

"Well, I think it's my turn," Neil announced once they were back in the car. "And I have the best plan, trust me."


	4. Neil's Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current Funds: $850/$4,000  
> Money Needed: $3,150

Neil's plan was definitely more ambitious than the others.

"Look, Campbell had so much secret shit. He probably hid money and things we could sell, and the campers could have left stuff," He explained. "We just have to search the entire camp, and we'll probably find something."

"That'll take us all day!" Max yelled. 

"Do you have a better plan?" Neil asked.

"No."

"THEN SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Neil shouted. Max rolled his eyes. "Okay, I assigned you all an area. Max, you're searching the Quartermaster's room. David, you can take the campers' tent area. Gwen, you're the bunker under the counselor's cabin. Me and Nikki can take the attic since it's too big for somebody to search alone. Does that work for everybody?" Everybody nodded.

\----

Gwen didn't know that there was a secret bunker under the counselor's cabin, so she had a lot to search through. She first saw a large filing cabinet. She opened a drawer.

It was filled with paperwork from lawsuits and campers, some dating back to as early as 1976. The other drawers were the same story. Once they had been thoroughly checked, Gwen moved on to the boxes in the corner.

"What the fuck?" She muttered, opening the first box. It was filled with rat poison. The second was full of Kool-Aid, and the third was full of knives. "Oh, so the cultist could find this place, but not me."

It took Gwen another two hours to search every nook and cranny, but she found nothing of use. Eventually she gave up to see how the others had done.

David's tent search hadn't gotten him anything but a few coins, adding up to a grand total of... one dollar.

Max had found some slightly traumatizing material, but nothing worth any money.

And then there was Nikki and Neil.

\----

"Why do we have to search the attic? It's so... dusty," Nikki complained.

"We're searching the attic because this is where the good stuff is," Neil said. Nikki opted to take the left side of the attic, while Neil searched the right. 

After sifting through a worrying large amount of boxes full of grenades, Neil found four dollar coins. As he was about to announce that he was done, Nikki shouted, "I found something!" Neil turned to face her. 

"What is it?"

"2,000 dollars!"

\----

"YOU FOUND 2,000 FUCKING DOLLARS?" Max yelled.

"Uh-huh! In a box labeled "embezzled," whatever that means," Nikki said.

"It's great, but we still need more than $1,000 to save the camp," Gwen explained.

"Good thing I have a plan!" Nikki exclaimed.


	5. Nikki's Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current Funds: $2,855/$4,000  
> Money Needed: $1,145

"We're gonna put on a talent show!" Nikki exclaimed. The other four stared at her with a confused expression. Then they started to talk all at once.

"What?" Max.

"NEVER!" Neil.

"Where?" David.

"How?" Gwen.

"Right over at theater camp," Nikki explained.

"How are we going to spread the word?" David asked. "When are we putting it on?"

"And most importantly, who the fuck is gonna pay to see _us_?" Max asked.

"Townspeople, obviously, will see it. We'll put up and hand out fliers. We'll put it on... tomorrow!" Nikki seemed to have planned for this, but nobody else was quite sure of how well this would work.

"But I don't have a talent!" Neil exclaimed. "Not one that I could show off in a talent show!" 

"Then you can be my assistant," Nikki said. 

"Assistant? What are you doing?" 

"Magic, of course!" 

"Wait, Nikki, who's running everything backstage?" Gwen asked.

"You can!" Nikki said. Gwen agreed, and David would be helping out with the audience. That left Max as the other act.

"I don't have a talent either!" Max shouted.

"Uh, you have a violin case under your bed. Play that," Neil suggested.

"I don't need random strangers knowing that I play violin."

"Come on, Max, just do it," Gwen said.

"...Fine," Max relented.

\----

So the posters were handed to citizens, put up on trees and poles, and hung in shop windows for all to see. Everybody saw them, definitely. They just ignored them.

The overall turnout, because of this, was about nine people. And because tickets cost $5 each, they raised an amazing $45 dollars. But the hardest part was yet to come- the actual performance.

"I can't do this. I can't. There's so many people," Max worried.

"Max, there are literally nine people. And eight of them are old," Gwen said. Then she opened the curtain, and Nikki and Neil went onstage.

"For my first trick, I will... hypnotize my assistant!" Nikki exclaimed. 

"Wait, what?" Neil asked. But Nikki was already swinging a rock attached to a rope in front of Neil's face.

"You are very sleepy..." Nikki said.

"I am very sleepy..." Neil repeated. Then he fell asleep, still standing in front of Nikki. 

"Ok... When I snap my fingers... you will think you are a platypus!" Nikki said. The platypus "muack"ed in agreement from backstage. Then Nikki snapped her fingers, and Neil woke up.

"MUACK." Neil did indeed think he was a platypus. The audience clapped politely.

"Now, change back!" Nikki snapped her fingers again. Neil looked at her with a blank expression.

"Muack?" A worried look crossed Nikki's face. She snapped again. And again. And again. Neil continued to "muack" and look around confusedly. Eventually, Gwen pulled the curtain closed. The audience sat, a bit stunned and slightly terrified.

"Okay, well, Nikki's unhypnotizing Neil. That means it's your turn, Max," Gwen said. Max's eyes widened. 

"You know, they probably all left-" He peeked outside. The audience had surprisingly stayed. "Shit."

"Onstage with you!" Gwen handed Max his violin and shoved him out, opening the curtain as soon as she was done. Max froze, looking at all nine people watching (plus David, watching with the audience, and Gwen, watching from backstage). He slowly raised his violin and the bow, closed his eyes, and began to play.

Max had refused to play a song lasting longer than a minute, so David dug up the sheet music for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Extended Edition)." 

After only 57 seconds, the song was over. The audience clapped, and the curtains closed. Max shoved his violin back into the case and slammed it shut.

"I hope you enjoyed the performance, because I am never playing for you people ever again."

\----

After the audience left and Neil had been successfully convinced that he was, in fact, a human, David and Gwen sat everybody down at the mess hall table.

"We want you guys to know that we are so proud of you. You were great tonight," David said. "We still need 1,100 dollars. I have a plan, but if it doesn't work, I want you to know that we really tried our best to save this place. Okay?"

The campers nodded.


	6. David's Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current Funds: $2,900/$4,000  
> Money Needed: $1,100

"So here's my plan," David began. "We need to raise 1,100 dollars. I know that a lot of people in Sleepy Peak have dogs that need to be walked. We only have a week before camp is over, so we just walk them for a week and we'll probably make enough."

" _That's_ your great plan? Fucking _d_ _og walking_?" Max exclaimed. 

"Yeah, David, I'm not sure if that'll work," Gwen said. 

"Trust me, it'll work," David assured them.

\----

After a long week of dog walking, the group was gathered back at the mess hall tables. 

"This better be enough," Max grumbled. He'd walked some of the most energetic dogs, and they had dragged him around town all week. It had driven him to near insanity, and he wanted it to have been worth it.

"We raised... 900 dollars," David said. Everybody drooped. 

"That's 200 dollars we still need," Neil sighed.

"I know. I'm really sorry, guys. I guess this is our last night at camp." David was near tears. 

"Hey, why don't we go out for pizza?" Gwen suggested quietly. The campers nodded. Gwen grabbed the keys to the campmobile and the five of them headed outside.

Dinner was quiet as everybody realized that this was it. The end of their days at Camp Campbell. But most surprising to the group was the fact that Max seemed the most upset.He'd spent four summers at camp, and he'd been miserable for every single one. It seemed like something had changed to make him want to stay longer.

"I don't want to go home. I want to stay here forever," Nikki said.

"I know, Nikki. But the summer's over," Gwen replied. After they paid for their food, they left the restaurant feeling as upset as before.

As they were leaving, David's phone rang. Everybody stood, listening to his side of the conversation. 

"Hello? Yes, this is David. What? When? I'll be right there." David lowered his phone. "That was the bank. Because Mr. Campbell's been arrested, they passed his bank account on to the camp. There were 300 dollars in it."

"Seriously?"

"YES!"

"THE CAMP IS SAVED!"

"Okay, settle down, kids. We just have to head over to the bank to pick it up," Gwen said.

"Then what the fuck are we waiting for?" Max asked.

\----

The next morning, Nikki and Neil left Max with excited promises to keep in touch. He would never admit it, but he shed a few tears as he watched them drive away. Now he just had to wait for _his_ parents.

An hour passed. Then another. And another. Soon, it was almost 9:00 at night. The parents were supposed to come at 9:00 in the morning.

David and Gwen sat with Max outside of the mess hall, waiting for a car to come. Eventually, Max fell asleep. 

He woke up the next morning in a car. He panicked for a second, thinking he hadn't even been able to say goodbye to David and Gwen. Then he realized that it wasn't his parent's car. It was David's. David was driving and Gwen was in the passenger's seat.

"What's going on? Did you kidnap me?" Max asked angrily, but he was secretly a bit relieved.

"No. Max... Your parents called," Gwen began. Max got worried, wondering what Gwen was about to say. "They put you into foster care."

"They abandoned me," Max said bluntly.

"Not exactly," Gwen said.

"So are you taking me to the foster home?"

"We talked to the foster home. David and I are going to be fostering you."

"How are both of you fostering me?"

"We live in the same apartment building, on the same floor," David spoke up.

"How do you manage to stand each other  _all year_ when you can barely stand each other during the summer?" Max asked, making the counselors both laugh a bit.

"It's easier when we're not taking care of a bunch of annoying kids," Gwen joked.

"Plus, we're both so busy with work that we only really see each other once a week," David said.

Soon, they had arrived at the apartment building. David had a spare bedroom, so Max would be staying with him. He would still see Gwen often, though. They dropped her off at her room and walked to David's.

"Well, this is the place." David unlocked and opened the door. "Welcome home, Max."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to my friends for helping with what the plan would be!  
> thank you guys for reading!


End file.
